Tuesday, Dec 12, 2017 at 9:08 PM

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday that the United States is open to talks with North Korea without preconditions, saying it is unrealistic for the country to give up its nuclear weapons program before discussions can begin.
"It's not realistic to say we're only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program, they have too much invested in it," Tillerson said at the Atlantic Council think tank, NBC News reported.
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After announcing increased containment on one of the biggest wildfires in California history, officials warned that communities remain at risk and the threat could increase as unpredictable winds whip up again.
Red Flag warnings for fire danger due to Santa Ana winds and a critical lack of moisture were extended, with a possible increase in gusts into the end of the week.
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Wednesday, Dec 13, 2017 at 7:00 AM

Matt Lauer. Bitcoin. DACA. Monkey selfies. Jeremy Lin's hair. Do-it-yourself eclipse glasses. Tom Petty's death. National anthem protests in the NFL. And "Cash Me Outside."
These were some of the people, topics and memes that trended to the top of Google searches in 2017. The search terms reflected the United States in upheaval over sexual misconduct allegations against powerful men, reeling from the tumultuous presidency of Donald Trump (What is "covfefe," by the way?), and people around the world searching for information about the latest iPhone and how to make slime.
Three of the top 10 TV shows in the U.S. debuted on Netflix, the same as last year.
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Tuesday, Dec 12, 2017 at 4:30 PM

President Donald Trump lashed out at Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Tuesday, after she said Trump should resign over recent sexual misconduct allegations. Gillibrand called it a "sexist smear" while Democrats rallied around her.
Trump was pushing back against the women accusing him of sexual misconduct, insisting he's the target of "false accusations and fabricated stories of women who I don't know and/or have never met."
Three women who previously accused Trump of sexual harassment had shared their stories on NBC's "Megyn Kelly Today" on Monday, their accusations getting a new focus as the #MeToo movement highlights sexual misconduct in workplaces from Hollywood to Washington.
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Wednesday, Dec 13, 2017 at 7:33 AM

An illegal cooking fire at an encampment near a Los Angeles freeway sparked a fast-moving wildfire last week that destroyed homes in the Bel-Air neighborhood and closed down a major freeway, officials said Tuesday.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said that a cooking fire in a brush area near Sepulveda Boulevard where it passes underneath the 405 Freeway was the cause of the so-called Skirball Fire, which broke out around 5 a.m. Wednesday.
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2 hours ago

In less than 24 hours, authorities say a would-be suicide bomber's botched attack on a Manhattan transportation hub underneath Times Square became an open-and-shut case after a search of his apartment and hearing the suspect's his own words.
Akayed Ullah, 27, who's expected to make his first court appearance on Wednesday, made it clear from a hospital bed where he was being treated for burns from a pipe bomb he strapped to his body that he was on a mission to punish the United States for attacking the Islamic State group, said Acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim. A search of the Bangladeshi immigrant's apartment turned up bomb-making materials, including screws matching those found at the scene intended as carnage-creating shrapnel. It also turned up a passport in his name, scrawled with the words "O AMERICA, DIE IN YOUR RAGE," authorities said.
"His motivation," the prosecutor said, "was not mystery."
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Tuesday, Dec 12, 2017 at 3:48 PM

Amid sexual misconduct allegations that have rocked Capitol Hill, a generational divide is becoming increasingly evident in Congress. The upheaval has spurred a wave of younger lawmakers to demand institutional reform and call for top Congressional leaders to step down and make way for the next generation.
"Given the current age profile of the Democrats, it seems like there will be a generational shift," Gregory J. Wawro, a professor of political science at Columbia University, told NBC. "That seems inevitable now. To what extent that will bring about changes in Congress or changes in the Democratic Party, that remains to be seen."
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Tuesday, Dec 12, 2017 at 7:17 PM

The Senate on Tuesday narrowly confirmed one of President Donald Trump's judicial nominees despite a rare "not qualified" rating from the American Bar Association.
On a party-line vote of 50-48, the Republican-led Senate backed Leonard Steven Grasz to serve on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Grasz served for more than 11 years as Nebraska's chief deputy attorney general and was general counsel to the Nebraska Republican Party.
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Tuesday, Dec 12, 2017 at 4:34 PM

A visit by Colin Kaepernick to the Rikers Island jail facility has drawn a rebuke from the union that represents city correction officers.
The president of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association told the Daily News that the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback's presence at Rikers on Tuesday will only encourage inmates to attack jail guards.
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Tuesday, Dec 12, 2017 at 7:51 PM

Carter Stone's relapse story echoes the millions suffering from opioid addiction. Over the past 18 years, the rate of overdose deaths involving opioids nearly quadrupled, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
On an average day in the U.S., more than 650,000 opioid prescriptions are dispensed. On each day, 3,900 people begin the nonmedical use of prescription opioids, while 580 people begin using heroin, DHHS says.
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Tuesday, Dec 12, 2017 at 7:09 PM

A San Diego man believes the fact that he was not in the backyard of his home when a small plane crashed is a miracle.
The plane exploded into flames, killing two people and destroying the home.
The pilots were trying to land in a nearby schoolyard, but the plane crashed through a fence and skidded into Max Sansa's yard on Chandler Drive.
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Tuesday, Dec 12, 2017 at 12:03 PM

With more people opting out of traditional Christmas lights and choosing instead to create over-the-top laser displays, the Federal Aviation Administration warns these powerful beams could shoot past homes and into the sky, distracting pilots.
“The FAA's concerns about lasers – regardless of the source – is that they not be aimed at aircraft in a way that can threaten the safety of a flight by distracting or blinding the pilots,” the federal agency said in a statement. “People may not realize that systems they set up to spread holiday cheer can also pose a potential hazard to pilots flying overhead.”
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Tuesday, Dec 12, 2017 at 4:29 PM

As two states prepare to use the powerful opioid fentanyl in executions, an inmate on death row in Nebraska is preparing to challenge the use of “an untried four-drug combination” to carry out his death sentence for the 2002 killings of five people during a bank robbery.
Fentanyl, which is blamed for thousands of overdose deaths across the U.S., is also a key ingredient in the lethal cocktail that Nevada officials hope to use to execute another convicted killer.
“We are still waiting for the courts to approve the use of this new drug cocktail,” Nevada DOC spokeswoman Brooke Keast said Tuesday in an email to NBC News. “But should that happen, we have purchased enough fentanyl to use it in future executions as well.”
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Tuesday, Dec 12, 2017 at 2:45 PM

Standing outside of a Roy Moore rally in Midland City on the eve of Alabama’s special Senate election, peanut farmer Nathan Mathis held a photo of his daughter and a sign with a message for voters: Please don’t vote for Moore.
Mathis’ daughter, Patti Sue Mathis, died by suicide when she was 23 because "she was tired of being ridiculed and made fun of," for being gay, he wrote in an open letter to the Dothan Eagle, a local Alabama newspaper, in 2012.
Speaking to NBC News’ Vaughn Hillyard, Mathis condemned Moore’s past comments on homosexuality while revealing he too was once anti-gay. "I said bad things to my daughter, which I regret,” Mathis lamented.
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